Dith Pran Dies

My internet at home is "junk", and I saw this right before I got off work yesterday, so I didn't have an opportunity to post this sad story, until today:

Dith Pran, the Cambodian-born journalist whose harrowing tale of enslavement and eventual escape from that country's murderous Khmer Rouge revolutionaries in 1979 became the subject of the award-winning film "The Killing Fields," died Sunday. He was 65.

Dith died at a New Jersey hospital Sunday morning of pancreatic cancer, according to Sydney Schanberg, his former colleague at The New York Times. Dith had been diagnosed almost three months ago.

Dith was working as an interpreter and assistant for Schanberg in Phnom Penh, the Cambodian capital, when the Vietnam War reached its chaotic end in April 1975 and both countries were taken over by Communist forces.

Schanberg helped Dith's family get out but was forced to leave his friend behind after the capital fell; they were not reunited until Dith escaped four and a half years later. Eventually, Dith resettled in the United States and went to work as a photographer for the Times.

LINK TO FULL STORY AND PHOTO

Prayers and Condolences to Dith Pran's family and friends!!

Christians, Muslims Unite For Peace!

I found this story online as I was searching for information on "peaceful", Christians, and Muslims, and found this after I typed the question into the search engine:

Christians, Muslims unite for peace, from FAISALABAD, Pakistan, Christians and Muslims jointly demanded peace and mutual respect, rejecting all forms of intolerance and violence tied to religion as they gathered together March 18 to celebrate the birthday of Muhammad, which this year fell in the middle of Holy Week. The meeting was organized by the Diocesan Commission for Interfaith Dialogue and the Ulama Council for Interfaith Dialogue, AsiaNews reported Friday.


"We are doing whatever we can do and will continue interfaith dialogue and activities for interfaith harmony and a peaceful society," said Mgr. Joseph Coutts, bishop of Faisalabad. He noted that Christians and Muslims must understand the current situation, which requires communication and dialogue on everyone's part to avoid tragedies.


Sayyad Muhammad Zacheriah, president of the Ulama council, said no religion teaches violence, hate and war but that there are some evil forces who target Islam and Christianity. He said blasphemy against Muhammad and Christ should be equally condemned and the government should make sure there are no more mocking caricatures of the prophet.


Fr. Aftab James Paul, director of the Diocesan Commission for Interfaith Dialogue in Faisalabad, said, "We are here to show social harmony and solidarity to each other, and peace lovers should be happy to see us united."

Melissa's Muse IS Active

Melissa's Muse has been very active the last few days, and I would like share what she has been working on this weekend. Thanks!!

The first little morsel is called:

"Laugh While It's Funny"

Politics and Phonics tricks~
is what we teach our young,

We teach them to hate~
and seal their fate,

And pretend we're not among,

The ones to blame~
for all man's shame,

As we sing the song we've sung,

We are the World~
we are God's will,

We are God's chosen one,

But none of us~
want to realize,

That Satan's having his fun!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The second is called "Boo!" and should be read to the tempo of Vincent Price's part in Thriller:)

Boo!

When you creep around at night,
expecting to just find,

The boogeyman, ghosts and ghouls,
or freaks of any kind,

Be careful what you wish for,
cuz wishes do come true,

And those scary things your searching for,
just may indeed find you!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

And the last one for this post is called:

"Mirror Image"

Graduate from human lust,
from hate, anger, and any trust,

Pretend your strong and full of light,
but run away, when things get tight,

Never look back, never give in,
unless it's convenient to admit a sin,

Sell your soul, sell your wife,
whatever it takes to save your life,

For now a prisoner of the state,
and justice comes to seal your fate,

Ane when you stand before your savior,
I bet you'll rethink all your behavior.

Because in the end we all shall see,
who is who, and who are We.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Thanks for letting me share her musings! Take Care and have a Great Sunday Evening:)

1,000 Attend Sueppel Family Funeral

This story is by Brian Morelli of The Iowa City Press-Citizen and reports that The six members of the Sheryl and Steven Sueppel family rested in six caskets -- two longer silver ones in the middle with four shorter white ones on their sides -- before the altar of St. Mary's Catholic Church on Saturday morning.

A bell tower chimed as pallbearers marched the caskets one by one outside to six white hearses, one with a black roof. Those drove off in procession to St. Joseph's Cemetery, where the Sueppels will forever remain together, buried side-by-side.

"You were a great family. That is the legacy that you leave, not this one tragic event," said Sheryl Sueppel's brother, Dave Kesterson, to about 1,000 mourners.

Saturday was a day of mourning in Iowa City. Not judgment, not anger, just mourning the deaths of Sheryl, 42, Steven, 42, Ethan, 10, Seth, 8, Mira, 5, and Eleanor Sueppel, 3, and urging people to rely on faith in God to get through the tragic deaths.

For many outside the immediate family, it's hard to understand eternally uniting a husband and father with the family he brutally murdered before committing suicide. But, as a family, that is how the Sueppels and Kestersons agree their son and daughter, respectively, and four grandchildren should be remembered.

"My mom and dad along with (my family) all truly love you (Steve) and that will never change. ... Probably the easiest thing to do this week was forgive Steve," said Dave Kesterson, of Cedar Rapids. "I know there will be people who wonder how I can stand up here and be at peace. It's because of Jesus Christ."
Kesterson said he believed forgiveness would be Sheryl Sueppel's wish.
The Rev. Ken Kuntz described the Kestersons' and Sueppels' reactions to this tragedy as "the true meaning of love and forgiveness."

Steven Sueppel on either Sunday night or Monday morning beat his wife and children to death, possibly with baseball bats recovered from the crime scene, their 629 Barrington Road home. Autopsies determined they died of blunt force trauma to the torso and head.

Monday morning, Sueppel, a former Hills Bank & Trust executive indicted on charges of embezzling more than $500,000 over seven years and money laundering, committed suicide on his third attempt by driving into a concrete post in the median of Interstate 80.

The former vice president and controller left Hills Bank in October 2007. He pleaded not guilty to the charges and was set to appear in court in April. The federal case is being thrown out, although there remains the possibility of civil lawsuits.

Kuntz did not have answers for what Steven Sueppel did, calling it "beyond our ability to comprehend." Kuntz reflected briefly on the confusion that accompanies mental illness, and he urged parents to hug their children and encouraged people to let God judge Steven Sueppel.
"I don't know why or how Steve could do what he did, but I do know Steve loved his wife and his kids," Kuntz said.
Kuntz did not specifically tell people how they should remember Steven Sueppel -- widely regarded as a good man and a loving father and husband up until those last deeds that will forever shadow his memory.

Bible readings and Psalm refrains, though, spoke of forgiveness and eternal life.

"Everyone who believes in Him will receive forgiveness of sins through His name," the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles said.

Church-goers used Psalm 33 as a responsorial refrain: "Let your mercy be on us, O God, as we place trust in you." The Sueppel family was deeply connected to St. Mary's, where they attended Mass weekly. Steven and Sheryl were married there, and Steven and all four children were baptized there. Mourners dabbed their eyes throughout the service and as they entered and left St. Mary's.

The far reaches of this six-person family could seen as a diverse crowd of old and young, family and extended family, the children's Longfellow Elementary classmates, neighbors and a broad range of friends packed the church.

A picture of each family member sat in separate arrangements of white flowers above each casket. Enlarged family pictures from this past Christmas and a family trip to Colorado also stood on the altar next to several more flower arrangements.

"We commend Eleanor, Mira, Seth, Ethan and Sheryl to the warm embrace of God," Kuntz said. "We commend Steven to the infinite mercy and forgiving love of God."

LINK TO STORY COMMENTS

al-Sadr Offers A Deal

In what appears to be a tiny hopeful sign, the following story is being reported on Yahoo News, this Sunday morning:

Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr called on his followers on Sunday to stop battling government forces after a week of fighting in southern Iraq and Baghdad threatened to spiral out of control.

A crackdown on Shi'ite militants in the southern oil port of Basra has sparked an explosion of violence that risked undoing the past year's improvements in Iraq's security.

"Because of the religious responsibility, and to stop Iraqi blood being shed ... we call for an end to armed appearances in Basra and all other provinces," Sadr said in a statement given to journalists by his aides in the holy Shi'ite city of Najaf.

"Anyone carrying a weapon and targeting government institutions will not be one of us."

U.S. forces have been drawn deeper into the fighting, which exposed a rift in Iraq's Shi'ite majority between parties in Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government and Sadr's populist street movement. The government welcomed Sadr's statement but said it would press on with its offensive in Basra. "The operation in Basra will continue and will not stop until it achieves its goals. It is not targeting the Sadrists but criminals," spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told Reuters.

Scores of people have been killed in clashes in southern Iraq and in Shi'ite neighborhoods of the capital, where an indefinite curfew is now in place to contain further violence. In his statement, Sadr also called for an end to "random arrests" of his followers and for them to benefit from an amnesty law passed by parliament in February aimed at freeing thousands of prisoners from Iraqi jails. Maliki, in Basra to oversee the six-day-old operation, has ordered Shi'ite fighters there to lay down their arms and has extended a 72-hour deadline until April 8 for them to turn over heavy and medium weapons in return for cash.

Sadr aide Hazem al-Araji said Mehdi Army fighters would not hand over guns: "The weapons of the resistance will not be delivered to the Iraqi government," he told journalists. Araji also said there had been an agreement with the government to stop "random arrests," an underlying grievance of Sadr's followers that has fuelled this week's violence. Sadr's followers have accused Maliki and the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, his most powerful Shi'ite ally in government, of trying to crush them ahead of provincial elections due in October in which they are expected to make a strong showing.

Sadrists have complained that Iraqi and U.S. forces have exploited a truce called by the cleric last August to make indiscriminate arrests. The U.S. military says it only targets those who disobeyed Sadr's ceasefire order. A key test will be whether Sadr's unruly militia, which he has sought to reorganize in recent months to root out rogue elements, will obey his order to stand down.

Shortly after Sadr's statement, a salvo of rockets or mortars was fired at the Green Zone diplomatic and government compound in central Baghdad. The U.S. military has blamed rogue Mehdi Army militiamen for similar barrages in the past week. But in the southern city of Nassiriya a Reuters reporter said clashes with security forces had stopped and Mehdi Army fighters were seen withdrawing from the streets. This week's fighting has placed the United States in a dilemma. While it wants Iraqi forces to take the lead on security, the Basra operation endangered Sadr's truce, a key factor in the drop in violence in Iraq since last June.

The United States also risks being sucked into an intra- Shi'ite conflict at a time when it plans to pull out some 20,000 troops and decide soon on future troop levels. Democrats seeking to succeed President George W. Bush want speedier withdrawals. U.S. forces said they killed at least 14 fighters in two helicopter missile strikes in Baghdad early on Sunday. They also said special forces have been operating alongside Iraqi units in Basra, where air strikes killed 22 fighters on Saturday.

The government offensive has so far had little success reclaiming the streets of Basra. Shortly before Sadr's statement, Reuters Television pictures showed masked Mehdi Army fighters brandishing machine guns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers outside a state television transmission station after setting fire to Iraqi troop carriers.


Bush should be paying attention, as this is obviously the man with the power to make or break Iraq. Let's make a deal, and get the hell out of dodge!!

Top 10 Crazy Things John McCain Has Said Recently

This is a fun little article that I was reading and would like to share it with you, as it makes fun of John McCain, and I really cannot pass up any chance to make fun of him~~just a quirk of mine!! So here goes:

The Top Ten Craziest Things John McCain Has Said While You Weren't Watching
By Cliff Schechter at AlterNet. Posted March 29th 2009.

Much of McCain's madness has been lost in the fog of the ongoing battle for the Democratic nomination -- so here's a recap of what you've missed.


John McCain has been saying a lot of downright nutty things lately. You've probably come across some of them, such as his admitted lack of knowledge about economics or his excitement at the prospect of remaining in Greater Mesopotamia for the next ten decades. Yet, alas, much of his craziness has been lost in the fog of the ongoing battle between Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination. So here's a recap of some nuggets of wisdom you may have missed -- from McCain's mouth to Bellevue's Ears.

10. Responding to a student who criticized his remark about our staying in Iraq for 100 years, McCain quipped, "No American argues against our military presence in Korea or Japan or Germany or Kuwait or other places, or Turkey, because America is not receiving casualties."

I guess Ron Paul isn't American. Or Dennis Kucinich. Or many others who have questioned the mindset behind keeping our troops abroad forever, which is what an empire does, not a republic. Although, perhaps more people don't argue "against our military presence" in the other spots he named, because, you know, those wars weren't based on 100 percent fabricated evidence and didn't make us less safe after they were done. Just a thought.

9. John McCain is "very proud to have Pastor John Hagee's support."
Just FYI, John Hagee makes Jeremiah Wright look like Richard Simmons. Hagee has called the Catholic Church the "Great Whore," an "apostate church," the "Antichrist," and a "false cult system." And let's not even get into what he has said about Jews.

8. "In the shorter term," said McCain, "if you somehow told American businesses and families, 'Look, you're not going to experience a tax increase in 2010,' I think that's a pretty good short-term measure."
This is McCain's statement in suport of making permanent the tax cuts he voted for and railed against in 2001 and 2003. Back then they were only a giveaway to the rich and "budget-busters." Now that we are much further along in borrowing our economy from the Chinese, and the rich have become even richer, they are a way to stimulate the economy by putting money in the hands of working Americans.
7. "This is a Catholic Voter Alert. Governor George Bush has campaigned against Senator John McCain by seeking the support of Southern fundamentalists who have expressed anti-Catholic views. Several weeks ago, Governor Bush spoke at Bob Jones University in South Carolina. Bob Jones has made strong anti-Catholic statements, including calling the Pope the anti-Christ, the Catholic Church a satanic cult! John McCain, a pro-life senator, has strongly criticized this anti-Catholic bigotry, while Governor Bush has stayed silent while seeking the support of Bob Jones University. Because of this, one Catholic pro-life congressman has switched his support from Bush to McCain, and many Michigan Catholics support John McCain for president."
This was a John McCain for president robo-call in 2000. Today, as we pointed out, he hangs with the Rev. Hagee who thinks Catholicism is a "cult" and the "Antichrist." How romantic.
6. "Everybody says that they're against the special interests. I'm the only one the special interests don't give any money to."
Here are some examples of Sen. McCain's epic battle with special-interest money: According to the Center for Responsive Politics, McCain has taken nearly $1.2 million in campaign contributions from the telephone utility and telecom service industries, more than any other senator. McCain sides with the telecom companies on retroactive immunity.
McCain is also the single largest recipient of campaign contributions from Ion Media Networks -- formerly Paxson Communication -- receiving $36,000 from the company and employees from 1997 to mid-year 2006.
5. McCain listened intently, pausing a second before delivering what could be a defining answer. "The other one will do just fine."

For what important reason was Sen. McCain interrupting an explanation to the press of his positions on Iraq and national security to take a cell phone from an aide? Why his wife needed to buy them a new barbecue grill.

4. During a Nov. 28, 2007, Republican debate Sen. McCain angrily denounced torture and offered unmitigated support of the Army field manual's restrictions, saying they "are working, and working effectively."
So naturally and quite logically, he voted against applying these same standards to the CIA. Apparently these rules won't work effectively for spooks, just the men and women on the front lines.
3. McCain, while speaking at a town hall meeting in a suburb of Philadelphia, was asked if he had concerns that anti-American insurgents in Iraq might commit increased acts of violence in September or October with a plan in mind to tip the November election to the Democrats. "Yes, I worry about it," McCain said.

How did he figure out what the insurgents -- which his policies in Iraq have helped create -- are up to? When they attacked us on 9/11, and the warning signs were all ignored by President Bush and his then National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, he was punished with winning a second term. So, of course, militants, who follow john McCain's campaign like Republicans do the signs of the Rapture, are closely planning their events because they know the exact opposite will be the result this time.

2. Let's go back to the videotape: "I'm the only one the special interests don't give any money to."

Not only have we proven this false, but perhaps many can't give money because they all work on his campaign. His campaign manager, Rick Davis, lobbyist. Top advisor, Charlie Black, lobbyist. The operative currently running his Senate office, Mark Buse, former lobbyist. And so it goes. Here is what one observer had to say. "It's an interesting dichotomy. On the one hand, he's presenting himself as the crusader against special interests and yet, on the other hand, he's surrounded himself with senior advisers that are lobbyists," said Sheila Krumholz of the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan, non-profit research group focused on money in politics.

1. And finally, McCain's craziest, coolest, most unstoppable McCain Moment: The senator said, while in Jordan, that it was "common knowledge and has been reported in the media that al-Qaeda is going back into Iran and receiving training and are coming back into Iraq from Iran, that's well known. And it's unfortunate." A few moments later, Sen. Joseph Lieberman, admiringly gazing at McCain until that moment, stepped up and whispered something in the presidential candidate's ear. McCain then blurted out: "I'm sorry, the Iranians are training extremists, not al-Qaeda."

Phew. Glad trusty Joe Lieberman was there to explain to the man of "experience," a man who wants to lead the free world, that Sunnis (Al Qaeda) and Shia (Iran) not only don't work together but are in direct conflict. We have only been at war there for five years, so I wouldn't expect Sen. McCain to concern himself with such trivial matters.

Wasn't that FUN!!! Have A Great Weekend!!

Sueppel's Burials Are Today

This story of the Sueppel's burials and the aftermath, is by Brian Morelli of the Iowa City Press-Citizen, and he writes:
Today's funeral and burial might serve as an ecumenical bookend for the lives of the six members of the Sheryl and Steven Sueppel family, but for many friends, family and others in the Iowa City community, their story and their tragic end will not fade anytime soon.

Steven, 42, Sheryl, 42, Ethan, 10, Seth, 8, Mira, 5, and Eleanor, 3, will be memorialized together in a 10 a.m. ceremony at St. Mary's Catholic Church, 302 E. Jefferson St., and then brought to St. Joseph's Cemetery, 1122 N. Dodge St., to be buried as a family.

Funeral directors say friends and family believe being buried together is how the family would have wanted it, despite the grisly moments right before their violent deaths.

Police say Steven Sueppel murdered his family, possibly using baseball bats that were recovered from the scene, in their 629 Barrington Road home on Easter night or Monday morning. Officials determined they died of blunt force trauma to the torsos and heads.

Early Monday, police think Sueppel committed suicide on his third attempt by driving into a concrete post in the median of Interstate 80.

Sueppel, a former Hills Bank & Trust executive, had been indicted in February for embezzling more than $500,000 over seven years from his employer and money laundering. The former vice president and controller left his job in October. He pleaded not guilty to the charges and was set to appear in court in April. The federal case is being thrown out, although there remains the possibility of civil lawsuits.

Nobody will ever understand why Sueppel, a widely perceived loving father and husband from a prominent local family, did what he did. Police say a four-page handwritten note left at the crime scene by Sueppel indicated he felt shame from the legal troubles and financial strain weighing on him.

LINK TO FULL STORY

Helping Children Cope With Sueppel Childrens Deaths!

This story is by Rob Daniel in the Iowa Press-Citizen concerning the Sueppel Children and how to help your kids cope with their deaths.

Being flexible to allow a child to grieve over a lost classmate is a key element in moving beyond the tragedy, an Iowa City funeral director said Thursday.

Michael Lensing, funeral director of Lensing Funeral and Cremation Service in Iowa City, spoke with about 25 parents, teachers and counselors Thursday morning at Longfellow Elementary. The school has been reeling this week following the deaths of Sheryl Sueppel and her four children, Ethan, 10, Seth, 8, Mira, who would have been 6 Wednesday, and Eleanor, 3. Police said Sheryl Sueppel's husband, Steve Sueppel, killed them early Monday morning before intentionally crashing the family's minivan into an electronic road sign on Interstate 80, killing himself instantly. The three oldest children attended Longfellow, and Sheryl Sueppel was a regular presence at the school.

There is also complete funeral details at the story LINK, as well as stories with more details on the tragic murders!! Thank you!

COPING STORY LINK

Investment Firms Tap Fed For Billions

I was just reading this story on Yahoo News in which Big Wall Street investment companies have jumped all over the Federal Reserve's unprecedented offer to obtain emergency loans, borrowing more than doubled than in the program's debut week.
Those firms averaged $32.9 billion in daily borrowing over the past week from the new lending program, compared with $13.4 billion the previous week, the central bank reported Thursday. The program, which began last Monday, is part of the Fed's effort to aid the financial system.
On Wednesday alone, lending reached $37 billion.
The Fed, for the first time, agreed on March 16 to let big investment houses temporarily get emergency loans directly from the central bank. This mechanism, similar to one available for commercial banks for years, will continue for at least six months. It was the broadest use of the Fed's lending authority since the 1930s.
Last week, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers and Morgan Stanley said they had begun to test the new lending mechanism. The Fed does not release the identity of the borrowers using the facility.
The Fed created a way for investment firms to have regular access to a source of short-term cash. This lending facility is seen as similar to the Fed's "discount window" for banks. Commercial banks and investment companies pay 2.5 percent in interest for overnight loans from the Fed.
Investment houses can put up a range of collateral, including investment-grade mortgage backed securities.
Banks averaged $550 million in daily borrowing, for the week ending March 26, from the Fed's discount window, compared with $81 million the previous week.
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke is scheduled to give lawmakers an updated assessment of the economic and financial situation at a hearing on Capitol Hill next Wednesday.
Also Thursday, the Fed debuted a separate lending facility where Wall Street firms can borrow Treasury securities and put up risky home-loan packages as collateral.
The Fed auctioned $75 billion worth of Treasury securities. Bidders paid an interest rate of 0.330 percent. The Fed received bids of $86.1 billion worth of the securities. The identity of bidders is not released.
It was the first time the Fed conducted an auction of this kind. The next one is set for April 3.
Demand for Treasury securities at the auction was less than some analysts expected, although that was viewed as a possible sign of less stress in the financial system. Still, many remain wary about financial conditions.
"It seems like the TSLF passed its first test," said T.J. Marta, a fixed-income strategist at RBC Capital Markets. "On the one hand I'm fairly positive about the auction. But on the other hand, we survived today. ... there is a whole lot more pain to come," in terms of more financial losses from the housing and credit debacles, he predicted.
The auction program is intended to help financial institutions and the troubled mortgage market. The Fed said it would make as much as $200 billion worth of Treasuries available through weekly auctions that started Thursday.
The goal is to make investment houses more inclined to lend to each other. It also is aimed at providing relief to the distressed market for mortgage-linked securities. Questions about their value and dumping of these securities have driven up mortgage rates, aggravating the housing crisis. Since the Fed's announcement of this new program, rates on some mortgages have eased somewhat.
Federal Reserve Governor Randall Kroszner said in a speech Thursday that curbing shady lending practices that contributed to the housing and credit debacles should help revive the confidence of the public and investors.
"Effective consumer protection can help to restore confidence in the mortgage markets and help to preserve the flow of capital to consumers who wish to purchase a home," Kroszner said.
Under fire from Congress for being too lax in its oversight, the Fed has proposed a way to protect homeowners from dubious lending practices. Subprime borrowers — those with tarnished credit histories or low incomes — have been hurt the most, although problems have spread to more creditworthy borrowers.
The Fed wants to:
_restrict lenders from penalizing risky borrowers who pay loans off early.
_require that lenders make sure these borrowers set aside money to pay for taxes and insurance.
_bar lenders from making loans without proof of a borrower's income.
_prohibit lenders from engaging in a pattern or practice of lending without considering a borrower's ability to repay a home loan from sources other than the home's value.
_curtail misleading ads for many types of mortgages.
_bolster financial disclosures to borrowers.

Judge Orders Spanish Speaking Men To Learn English

I was just reading a story of A judge known for creative sentencing, who has ordered three Spanish-speaking men to learn English or go to jail. My first reaction was that this cannot be Constitutional, but not being a legal expert, I am not sure. If anyone out there could enlighten me as to whether or not this is a "good", legal ruling, please do so. Thanks!

The men, who faced prison for criminal conspiracy to commit robbery, can remain on parole if they learn to read and write English, earn their GEDs and get full-time jobs, Luzerne County Judge Peter Paul Olszewski Jr. said.

The men, Luis Reyes, Ricardo Dominguez and Rafael Guzman-Mateo, plus a fourth defendant, Kelvin Reyes-Rosario, all needed translators when they pleaded guilty Tuesday.

"Do you think we are going to supply you with a translator all of your life?" the judge asked them.


The four, ranging in age from 17 to 22, were in a group that police said accosted two men on a street in May. The two said they were asked if they had marijuana, told to empty their pockets, struck on the head, threatened with a gun and told to stay off the block. Attorneys for the men said they were studying the legality of the ruling and had not decided whether to appeal. One of the attorneys, Ferris Webby, suggested that the ruling was good for his client, Guzman-Mateo. "My client is happy," Webby said. "I think it's going to help him."

The judge sentenced the four men to jail terms of four to 24 months. But he gave the three men, who already had served at least four months, immediate parole. Reyes-Rosario remains imprisoned on an unrelated drug charge.

Olszewski ordered the three to return with their parole officers in a year and take an English test. "If they don't pass, they're going in for the 24 (months)," he said. Olszewski is known for outside-the-box sentencing.

He has ordered young defendants who are school dropouts to finish school. He often orders defendants to get full-time employment. But he also has his staff coordinate with an employment agency to help them find the jobs.

What do you think??

Will Malicki's Vow End al-Sadr Truce?

In a story I was just reading it would seem that the "truce" between al-Sadr's militia and the Iraqi military and our troops, may be all but over as Iraq's U.S.-backed Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki vowed on Thursday that security forces would battle Shi'ite militia in Basra "to the end," despite huge demonstrations to demand his resignation.

Mehdi Army fighters loyal to cleric Moqtada al-Sadr remained in control of much of Basra, Iraq's second biggest city and main oil hub, defying a three-day government offensive that has led to violence spreading across the south and Baghdad.

Authorities imposed a three-day curfew in the capital to contain the clashes.

Saboteurs blew up one of Iraq's two main oil export pipelines from Basra, cutting at least a third of the exports from the southern oilfields, a Southern Oil Company official said. U.S. oil prices briefly rose more than $1 a barrel.

Maliki, who has traveled to Basra to oversee the crackdown, told tribal leaders it was sending "a message to all gangs that the state is in charge of the country." "We entered this battle with determination and we will continue to the end. No retreat. No talks. No negotiations." More than 130 people have been killed and hundreds wounded since the government began the operation on Tuesday, exposing deep divisions between powerful factions within Iraq's majority Shi'ite community. The clashes have all but wrecked a truce declared last August by Sadr, which Washington had said helped curb violence. The government says it is fighting "outlaws," but Sadr's followers say political parties in Maliki's government are using military force to marginalize their rivals ahead of local elections due by October.

President George W. Bush praised Maliki's "boldness" in launching the operation and said it showed the Iraqi leader's commitment to "enforce the law in an even-handed manner." Tens of thousands of Sadr supporters marched in Baghdad in a massive show of force for the cleric, demanding Maliki's removal. In the vast Sadr City slum, named after the cleric's slain father, crowds of angry men chanted slogans. "We demand the downfall of the Maliki government. It does not represent the people. It represents Bush and Cheney," marcher Hussein Abu Ali said.

The slum of 2 million people is in a virtual state of siege. "We are trapped in our homes with no water or electricity since yesterday. We can't bathe our children or wash our clothes," said a resident who gave his name as Mohammed. Demonstrations were also held in the Kadhimiya and Shula districts, among the largest anti-government protests Maliki's government has faced. An Interior Ministry source said hundreds of thousands took part.

A Reuters correspondent in Basra said Iraqi forces had cordoned off seven districts but were being repelled by Mehdi Army fighters inside them. Helicopters swooped overhead. Reuters television pictures showed masked Mehdi fighters firing mortars, waving rocket launchers in the air and dancing with children in the streets. Some showed off captured government vehicles sprayed with Mehdi Army slogans. Authorities imposed curfews in other Shi'ite towns to halt the spread of the violence. Many shops in Baghdad were shut and the streets largely empty as people stayed at home.

An Interior Ministry source said 51 people had been killed and more than 200 wounded so far in Basra alone. Basra's police chief survived a roadside bomb which killed three bodyguards. Clashes have spread in the past two days to the southern cities of Kut, Hilla, Nassiriya, Diwaniya, Amara and Kerbala, as well as 13 predominantly Shi'ite neighborhoods of Baghdad that have a Mehdi Army presence.

The "Green Zone" in central Baghdad came under repeated rocket attack during the day in some of the worst barrages aimed at the government and diplomatic compound in recent months. One rocket landed inside the grounds of the U.S. embassy complex. Many of the rockets fell short and landed in surrounding neighborhoods. The U.S. military blamed rogue elements of the Mehdi Army for the attacks, which it said killed one Iraqi and wounded 14 others. Forty-four people have been killed and 75 wounded in Wasit province, police chief Abdul Hanin al-Imara said. U.S. planes flew over the provincial capital Kut and gunfire rang out as troops entered the streets, a Reuters witness said.

Ali Bustan, head of the health directorate for eastern Baghdad, said 30 bodies and more than 200 wounded had been brought to two hospitals in Sadr City. Reuters television pictures showed fighters in T-shirts and jeans firing rocket-propelled grenades and rifles on the streets of the northern Shaab district. Police said Sadr followers had set ablaze a building of Maliki's Dawa party.

U.S. and Iraqi checkpoints near Sadr City came under fire, said U.S. military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Steven Stover. Gunmen also burst into the home of a government security spokesman, set it on fire and kidnapped him, police said. Sadr's aides say his ceasefire is still formally in place. But his followers have staged a "civil disobedience" campaign, forcing schools and shops to shut, and Sadr has threatened to declare a "civil revolt" if the crackdown is not halted.

Is the "surge" and all of the "good" it brought to Iraq going to end in a spiral into ever increasing violence and bloodshed? As of right now Iraq looks to be taking a turn for the worse.

Sueppels Died Of Blunt Force Trauma!

It was such sad news yesterday after the autopsy results were released in the murders of Sheryl Sueppel and her four children, that I could not bring myself to write anything all day. Just kept going over and over how horrible it must have been to be beaten to death by your own father, and could just pray for them.

I cannot put myself in the place of the people who are defending Steve or making excuses for him as I did not know him personally. However, my boss is best friends with his brother Tom, and said he had attended Hawkeye games with Steve, and Steve's father, and thought he was a nice guy. He just cannot comprehend how Steve could do this to his family, as he was a "good" guy. The comments that I have read on the posts have been from where I was, with anger and outrage that a father could kill his family, to psychological reasons, or "guesses" as to how this could happen. It is an important story that is playing out with strong emotions on every level. In addition, there is the new addition to the mix of the "crazies" from the Westboro Church, who are going to try and ruin the services for the family, as they do at military funerals, or anywhere they can get their message out that God in punishing America for gays, etc.,.

Anyway, the story in yesterdays Iowa Press-Citizen contained the Autopsy results from the state medical examiner regarding the cause of death of Sheryl Sueppel and her four children.


The medical examiner determined that Sheryl Sueppel and her children died from multiple blunt force injuries to their upper torsos and heads, received late Easter Sunday night.

It may take a long time to get all or most of the answers in the cases, but this will surely remain with us for years to come. Prayers, Counseling, and Time,may be the only things that can heal this family and this city!!


Sueppels Died Of Blunt Force Trauma!

Hillary's Experience Verified

In the spirit of truth and correctness I answered a The John Blog post about Hillary's minor re-interpretation of her trip to Bosnia, and thought I would turn the answer into a post. I checked out the "truth" and here is what I have come up with!!

You guys are so mean to Hillary. The poor woman has PTSD after fighting the vast right wing conspiracy for years, fighting the legion of left wing bloggers who hate her,turning the Asteroid back from destroying the earth, putting Lex Luther in Megaprison, helping Al Gore invent the internet, fighting along side John Kerry as he fought the terrorist American troops in Vietnam as they were raping and pillaging throughout the country,rescuing the hostages in Iran, helping John McCain escape from the Chivatre Hotel in Paris, huddling with Obama in the churches Quiet Room~so he couldn't "hear" Reverend Wright's inflammatory speeches for 20 years, and assisting Rambo in beating back the evil thugs in the latest film, Oh and catching a catfish that set a Guiness Record:)
How's that for Experience!!
Obama's only foreign experience was going to IHOP on two very dangerous trips where he had to corkscrew into the parking lot and dodge several famished Weight Watcher escapees who were trying to cut him off at the counter; and one in which he got into a Volvo by mistake!!

The above "facts" have been verifed, and re-verified for authenticity!!

No Really It's All True!!

I am hardly being serious, and I approved this message! Hey Please Cut her some slack~she is a politician~~politicians embellish to make themselves look better. Remember when Ronald Reagan stormed Normandy and took Point de Hoc by himself, headed across Europe and killed Hitler single handedly?? Neither do I!! :)

Daniel ;)

Interesting Genealogy Of Presidential Contenders

After a very sad day in Iowa City, yesterday, we'll run through a few stories that are not so serious or deadly.
The first story from Yahoo News, is about the interesting genealogy of the presidential contenders.

This could make for one odd family reunion: Barack Obama is a distant cousin of actor Brad Pitt, and Hillary Rodham Clinton is related to Pitt's girlfriend, Angelina Jolie.

Researchers at the New England Historic Genealogical Society found some remarkable family connections for the three presidential candidates — Democratic rivals Obama and Clinton, and Republican John McCain.

Clinton, who is of French-Canadian descent on her mother's side, is also a distant cousin of singers Madonna, Celine Dion and Alanis Morissette. Obama, the son of a white woman from Kansas and a black man from Kenya, can call six U.S. presidents, including George W. Bush, his cousins. McCain is a sixth cousin of first lady Laura Bush.

Genealogist Christopher Child said that while the candidates often focus on pointing out differences between them, their ancestry shows they are more alike than they think.
"It shows that lots of different people can be related, people you wouldn't necessarily expect," Child said.
Obama has a prolific presidential lineage that features Democrats and Republicans. His distant cousins include President George W. Bush and his father, George H.W. Bush, Gerald Ford, Lyndon Johnson, Harry S. Truman and James Madison. Other Obama cousins include Vice President Dick Cheney, British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill and Civil War General Robert E. Lee.
"His kinships are across the political spectrum," Child said.
Child has spent the last three years tracing the candidates' genealogy, along with senior research scholar Gary Boyd Roberts, author of the 1989 book, "Ancestors of American Presidents."
Clinton's distant cousins include beatnik author Jack Kerouac and Camilla Parker-Bowles, wife of Prince Charles of England.
McCain's ancestry was more difficult to trace because records on his relatives were not as complete as records for the families of Obama and Clinton, Child said.
Obama and President Bush are 10th cousins, once removed, linked by Samuel Hinkley of Cape Cod, who died in 1662.
Pitt and Obama are ninth cousins, linked by Edwin Hickman, who died in Virginia in 1769.
Clinton and Jolie are ninth cousins, twice removed, both related to Jean Cusson who died in St. Sulpice, Quebec, in 1718.
The New England Historic Genealogical Society, founded in 1845, is the oldest and largest nonprofit genealogical organization in the country.

Have an interesting genealogy? If you wish to share, it would be welcome!!

4000 Dead Milestone Reached In Iraq Sunday!

After the sad milestone of 4000 dead troops in Iraq was reached yesterday, President Bush spoke out and pledged Monday to ensure “an outcome that will merit the sacrifice” of those who have died in Iraq, offering both sympathy and resolve as the U.S. death toll in the five-year war hit 4,000.

“One day, people will look back at this moment in history and say, ‘Thank God there were courageous people willing to serve because they laid the foundation for peace for generations to come,’ “ Bush said at the State Department after a two-hour briefing on U.S. diplomatic strategy around the world. “I vow so long as I am president to make sure that those lives were not lost in vain.”

The president received another two-hour briefing earlier Monday at the White House on Iraq, this one from Gen. David Petraeus, the top commander in Iraq, and Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, via secure video hookup from Baghdad. Petraeus and Crocker are due to testify on Capitol Hill on April 8-9.

The deaths of four U.S. soldiers in a roadside bombing late Sunday in southern Baghdad pushed to 4,000 the number of American service members killed as the war enters its sixth year.

Grim milestones usually go unremarked upon by Bush. But he chose on this occasion to note the losses, albeit briefly and without taking questions from reporters.

“On this day of reflection, I offer our deepest sympathies to their families,” the president said. “I hope their families know that citizens pray for their comfort and their strength, whether they were the first one who lost their life in Iraq or recently lost their life in Iraq.”

The White House said Bush is likely to embrace an expected recommendation from Petraeus for a halt in troop withdrawals beyond those already scheduled to be completed by July, with the expectation that reductions would resume before the president leaves office in January. Bush also is to receive a briefing on Wednesday at the Pentagon “on what actions his advisers recommend for cementing those gains and taking action that will lay the foundation for further additional troop drawdowns,” White House press secretary Dana Perino said.

Petreaus believes a so-called pause in drawdowns, lasting a month or two, is needed to assess the impact of the current round. Perino said that Bush sees “some merit” in that idea. “I think that’s not unlikely,” she said. She said Bush is under “no deadline” to make a decision about troop levels before leaving next week for a NATO summit in Romania. Bush himself has hinted in recent speeches that he supports Petraeus’ position. But he did not tip his hand at all during his remarks Monday.

“Our strategy going forward will be aimed at making sure that we achieve victory and therefore America becomes more secure,” he said, adding that it is important that these “young democracies survive” as the 21st century progresses.

With the war entering its sixth year, Bush has been making the argument that defeating extremists in Iraq makes it less likely that Americans will encounter enemies at home. Iraq has taken a heavy toll on his presidency, contributing to Bush’s low poll ratings.

The U.S. has about 158,000 troops in Iraq. That number is expected to drop to 140,000 by summer in drawdowns meant to erase all but about 8,000 troops from last year’s increase, widely referred to in official Washington circles as a “surge.”

Perino had said earlier Monday that Bush spends time every day thinking about those who have lost their lives in battle and has “grieved for every lost American life.” Families of the fallen soldiers often tell the president that they want him to complete the mission in Iraq, she said. “He bears the responsibility for the decisions that he made,” Perino said. “He also bears the responsibility to continue to focus on succeeding.”

Vice President Dick Cheney, in Jerusalem to push the Mideast peace process, said the 4,000th American death in Iraq may have a psychological impact on the American public. "You regret every casualty, every loss,” he said. “The president is the one that has to make that decision to send young men and women into harm’s way. It never gets any easier.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Americans are asking how much longer their troops must sacrifice for an Iraqi government “that is unwilling or unable to secure its own future.” "Americans also understand that the cost of the war to our national security, military readiness and our reputation around the world is immense and that the threat to our economy — as the war in Iraq continues to take us deeper into debt — is unacceptable,” Pelosi said.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, vying for the Democratic presidential nomination, told a campaign audience in Pennsylvania that she would honor the fallen by ending the war and bringing home U.S. troops “as quickly and responsibly as possible.” Her rival for the nomination, Sen. Barack Obama, said “It is past time to end this war that should never have been waged by bringing our troops home, and finally pushing Iraq’s leaders to take responsibility for their future.”
Sadly this will not end anytime soon, and the bodies on all sides will continue to pile up!!

CHRONOLOGY OF DEATH LINK

Alleged Murderer May Have Been In Car Crash On Interstate 80 UPDATE

Sorry I had incorrect info on the memo from the Mall office which stated that Steven had shot his family, and would like to correct it to "accused of Killing" his family which I have now done. Thanks!!



I just received an all clear memo from our Mall Management Office which states: At 10:20 a.m., The Iowa City Police Chief released that he "believes" the Iowa City man accused of killing his family, was involved in a car crash on Interstate 80.

The University of Iowa has lifted The Hawk Alert and the Precautionary lockdown of schools in the Iowa City Area Community School District has been lifted.

The following story is at the Iowa Press-Citizen.com site:



Iowa City Police are investigating multiple deaths in an east Iowa City home as well as a one-vehicle fatality on Interstate 80. They are looking for Steven Sueppel, a former vice president at Hills Bank, was recently indicted for embezzling more than half a million dollars.



Condolences to Steven Sueppels wife and children, and May THEY Rest In Peace, and May Steven Burn in Hell for "allegedly" killing his family(If he didn't do it--my apologies to his memory). To the next person who thinks of killing their families and then themselves, Please do everyone a favor and just KILL YOURSELF, ,and leave your family to live their lives!!


update

Alleged Murderer May Have Been In Car Crash On Interstate 80

I just received an all clear memo from our Mall Management Office which states: At 10:20 a.m., The Iowa City Police Chief released that he "believes" the Iowa City man accused of shooting his family, was involved in a car crash on Interstate 80.
The University of Iowa has lifted The Hawk Alert and the Precautionary lockdown of schools in the Iowa City Area Community School District has been lifted.
The following story is at the Iowa Press-Citizen.com site:

Iowa City Police are investigating multiple deaths in an east Iowa City home as well as a one-vehicle fatality on Interstate 80. They are looking for Steven Sueppel, a former vice president at Hills Bank, was recently indicted for embezzling more than half a million dollars.

Condolences to Steven Sueppels wife and children, and May THEY Rest In Peace, and May Steven Burn in Hell for "allegedly" killing his family. To the next person who thinks of killing their families and then themselves, Please do everyone a favor and just KILL YOURSELF ,and leave your family to live their lives!!




car crash on 80

Are You A Racist? With Example And LINK

Are You A Racist? With Example And LINK

This test is an example of a test to gauge whether or not you have racist tendencies. Answer truthfully, remember this is private so only you will know your results. There are varying degrees of racism and you should know exactly where you stand. This is a copy of the test~~To take the ACTUAL test and get the results. please follow the link at the bottom!! Good Luck!!
1
Are all Men Created Equal?
Sure, besides rednecks, ghetto people, fobs, and mexicans
Affirmative, although some races are even cooler than my own
True, we're all the same, race is a social construct with little biological significance
Yep, people are people
No, some people are naturally different. You can see it with your eyes!
Yes, we learned it in class
2
How do your friends look?
Over 95% of my Friends are the same race me
Over 80% of my friends are the same race as me
At least 75% of my friends are the same race as me
Around 50% of my friends are the same race as me
Less than 40% of my friends are the same race as me
Less than 20% of my friends are the same race as me
3
What kind of neighborhood do you live in?
Predominantly my race, and that's how I prefer it
Predominantly my race, but I can't help it
Mostly my race, but hey people live around others similar to themselves
All another race, but I can't help it
All another race, and I like it fine
Its about as mixed as it gets, and I like it fine
4
Would you marry outside your race?
I would but my family wouldn't like it
Whoever I fall in love with
Yes, I WILL marry outside my race
No, mixed kids are generally confused
Never, that's wrong
I don't think about race in relationships
5
Are stereotypes true?
Yes, statistics don't lie
Well, there's truth to every stereotype
A little
Not really
My race does have some negatives
No people are products of their environment
6
How old are you?
Geezer/Hag (over 50)
Dying (27-50) or Early Teens (13-15)
16-18
I wish I was older or younger
18, 19, 21-27
20
7
What kidn of music do you listen to?
Music made by my beautiful people
Mostly music made by my people
Music made by my people with the exception of an artist
Everything
Mostly music made by people of a different race
Everything including world music
8
Where have you traveled?
Outside the country numerous times
Outside the country a few times
Outside my state a numerous times
Places where the people look like me!
I love my country!
I only travel with my friends
9
Out of this list, who do you admire the most
David Duke
Nelson Mandela
Eminem
My mom or dad
George Bush
Jesus, Buddha, or the prophet Mohammed
10
Are you Racist?!
No, I am the most open-minded person in the world
Yes, but its not necessarily a bad thing. I love my people
I couldn't be, all my friends are different races
No, but I do love my people first
No, even though I usually hang out with my own
Doubtful
11
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
As an example I took the test and received this assessment:You don't care about race. A person is a person and you judge people based on the individual. You have friends of all kinds of races, but you'll probably marry your own race. You're not averse to any particular race though. Suggestion: Live and Let Live Similar Personalities: Sammy Davis Jr., Bill Clinton, Bruce Lee. Obviously, it is just a simple quiz, and racism is more complex than that, but this is a beginning. I think I do have some racist tendencies (as evidenced by some of my comments to friend's posts~~in particular in regard to Obama and his Reverend~~and it made me think) and which this quiz did not pick up. I am going to REALLY explore what is going on inside me, and Shall write more about in the days and weeks ahead!! After all, they say "The Truth Shall Set You Free", and I guess I am going to find out if that is True!! Thanks!!

Everyone is different, and so are their answers--follow the link to actually take A similar test and get your answers!! The first test I took requires that you purchase a membership, so I found this other site for you!!


are you a racist

A History of EASTER

A History of Easter:
When is Easter?
According to the New Testament, Christ was crucified on the eve of Passover and shortly afterward rose from the dead. In consequence, the Easter festival commemorated Christ's resurrection. In time, a serious difference over the date of the Easter festival arose among Christians. Those of Jewish origin celebrated the resurrection immediately following the Passover festival, which, according to their Babylonian lunar calendar, fell on the evening of the full moon (the 14th day in the month of Nisan, the first month of the year); by their reckoning, Easter, from year to year, fell on different days of the week.


Christians of Gentile origin, however, wished to commemorate the resurrection on the first day of the week, Sunday; by their method, Easter occurred on the same day of the week, but from year to year it fell on different dates. An important historical result of the difference in reckoning the date of Easter was that the Christian churches in the East, which were closer to the birthplace of the new religion and in which old traditions were strong, observed Easter according to the date of the Passover festival. The churches of the West, descendants of Greco-Roman civilization, celebrated Easter on a Sunday.

Rulings of the Council of Nicaea on the Date of Easter
Constantine I, Roman emperor, convoked the Council of Nicaea in 325. The council unanimously ruled that the Easter festival should be celebrated throughout the Christian world on the first Sunday after the full moon following the vernal equinox; and that if the full moon should occur on a Sunday and thereby coincide with the Passover festival, Easter should be commemorated on the Sunday following. Coincidence of the feasts of Easter and Passover was thus avoided.
The Council of Nicaea also decided that the calendar date of Easter was to be calculated at Alexandria, then the principal astronomical center of the world. The accurate determination of the date, however, proved an impossible task in view of the limited knowledge of the 4th-century world. The principal astronomical problem involved was the discrepancy, called the epact, between the solar year and the lunar year. The chief calendric problem was a gradually increasing discrepancy between the true astronomical year and the Julian calendar then in use.
Later Dating Methods

Ways of fixing the date of the feast tried by the church proved unsatisfactory, and Easter was celebrated on different dates in different parts of the world. In 387, for example, the dates of Easter in France and Egypt were 35 days apart. About 465, the church adopted a system of calculation proposed by the astronomer Victorinus (fl. 5th cent.), who had been commissioned by Pope Hilarius (r. 461–68) to reform the calendar and fix the date of Easter. Elements of his method are still in use. Refusal of the British and Celtic Christian churches to adopt the proposed changes led to a bitter dispute between them and Rome in the 7th century.

Reform of the Julian calendar in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII, through adoption of the Gregorian calendar, eliminated much of the difficulty in fixing the date of Easter and in arranging the ecclesiastical year; since 1752, when the Gregorian calendar was also adopted in Great Britain and Ireland, Easter has been celebrated on the same day in the Western part of the Christian world. The Eastern churches, however, which did not adopt the Gregorian calendar, commemorate Easter on a Sunday either preceding or following the date observed in the West. Occasionally the dates coincide; the most recent times were in 1865 and 1963.

Because the Easter holiday affects a varied number of secular affairs in many countries, it has long been urged as a matter of convenience that the movable dates of the festival be either narrowed in range or replaced by a fixed date in the manner of Christmas. In 1923 the problem was referred to the Holy See, which has found no canonical objection to the proposed reform. In 1928 the British Parliament enacted a measure allowing the Church of England to commemorate Easter on the first Sunday after the second Saturday in April. Despite these steps toward reform, Easter continues to be a movable feast.

Christian Origins
Easter is the annual festival commemorating the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the principal feast of the Christian year. It is celebrated on a Sunday on varying dates between March 22 and April 25 and is therefore called a movable feast. The dates of several other ecclesiastical festivals, extending over a period between Septuagesima Sunday (the ninth Sunday before Easter) and the first Sunday of Advent, are fixed in relation to the date of Easter.

Connected with the observance of Easter are the 40-day penitential season of Lent, beginning on Ash Wednesday and concluding at midnight on Holy Saturday, the day before Easter Sunday; Holy Week, commencing on Palm Sunday, including Good Friday, the day of the crucifixion, and terminating with Holy Saturday; and the Octave of Easter, extending from Easter Sunday through the following Sunday. During the Octave of Easter in early Christian times, the newly baptized wore white garments, white being the liturgical color of Easter and signifying light, purity, and joy.
The Christian festival of Easter probably embodies a number of converging traditions; most scholars emphasize the original relation of Easter to the Jewish festival of Passover, or Pesach, from which is derived Pasch, another name for Easter. The early Christians, many of whom were of Jewish origin, were brought up in the Hebrew tradition and regarded Easter as a new feature of the Passover festival, a commemoration of the advent of the Messiah as foretold by the prophets.

Pagan Origins
Easter, a Christian festival, embodies many pre-Christian traditions. The origin of its name is unknown. Scholars, however, accepting the derivation proposed by the 8th-century English scholar St. Bede, believe it probably comes from Eastre, the Anglo-Saxon name of a Teutonic goddess of spring and fertility, to whom was dedicated a month corresponding to April. Her festival was celebrated on the day of the vernal equinox; traditions associated with the festival survive in the Easter rabbit, a symbol of fertility, and in colored easter eggs, originally painted with bright colors to represent the sunlight of spring, and used in Easter-egg rolling contests or given as gifts.

Such festivals, and the stories and legends that explain their origin, were common in ancient religions. A Greek legend tells of the return of Persephone, daughter of Demeter, goddess of the earth, from the underworld to the light of day; her return symbolized to the ancient Greeks the resurrection of life in the spring after the desolation of winter. Many ancient peoples shared similar legends. The Phrygians believed that their omnipotent deity went to sleep at the time of the winter solstice, and they performed ceremonies with music and dancing at the spring equinox to awaken him.

The Christian festival of Easter probably embodies a number of converging traditions; most scholars emphasize the original relation of Easter to the Jewish festival of Passover, or Pesach, from which is derived Pasch, another name for Easter. The early Christians, many of whom were of Jewish origin, were brought up in the Hebrew tradition and regarded Easter as a new feature of the Passover festival, a commemoration of the advent of the Messiah as foretold by the prophets.

Easter Symbols
Eastre (or "Ostara"), the Anglo-Saxon Teutonic goddess of spring and fertility was often accompanied by a hare when represented. The fertile nature of rabbits and hares is another symbol of new life and the rebirth that occurs during the spring season.

Also, German settlers in America are said to have brought over the tradition of a bunny named "Oschter Haws" who would visit houses on Easter eve, leaving colored eggs for children. Easter eggs were painted different colors to represent the sunlight of spring. Christians later used eggs to symbolize the rebirth of Christ.

Another Easter tradition is the eating of Hot Cross Buns. These cakes were marked by the Saxons to honor Eastre, the fertility goddess. The crosses on the buns are said to represent the moon's quarters, while Christians see the cross as a reference to the crucifixtion.

Whatever your traditions~~, May You Have A Very Happy Easter Sunday!!

Did Fallen Riverside Soldier Commit Suicide? EASTER SUNDAY REMINDER!

As we approach Easter Sunday, I respectfully request anyone reading this to contact your representatives, and ask them to "Please look into this story and find out what happened for the family"!! I realize that they will not read their emails or hear their voice mails this weekend, but they will be there to get their attention when they return from their Spring Breaks, and maybe something will be done then!! Thanks~~

I was directed to a story which is running in the Iowa City Press-Citzen today, March 18th, 2008, and written by Kathryn Fiegen, which relates the story of a deceased soldier from Riverside, Iowa, and his "supposed" suicide!

The family of a fallen Riverside soldier said they still have unanswered questions after receiving the results recently of an investigation into his death that concluded he killed himself in Iraq.

Initial reports said U.S. Army Sgt. James Musack, 23, of Riverside, was killed in a non-combat related incident Nov. 21, 2006, in Samarra, Iraq. He was serving his second tour of duty in Iraq with the 4th Infantry Division out of Fort Hood, Texas. The U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command investigated the death and concluded in December 2007 that it was a suicide.
However, Musack's sister, Morgan Rorex, 20, of Coralville, said her family doesn't believe Musack killed himself just days before he was supposed to come home from Iraq.
"We didn't think that's what happened," she said. "There's too many inconsistencies."
Musack's family received the results of the investigation in the mail two weeks ago. The report is more than 100 pages long and includes interviews with unit members, the family and friends who last spoke to Musack, the results of forensic tests and diagrams of where his body was found. Many of the details, including the names of who was interviewed, were redacted.
Christopher Grey, Chief of Public Affairs for the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command, said Musack's death was "thoroughly investigated."
"We stand by the findings of this investigation," he said. "My heart goes out to the family, of course, but at this point, we stand by our investigation."
According to the report, Musack was found 67 meters from the southeast corner of Patrol Base South in the Al-Taji area of Iraq about 9:45 a.m. Nov. 21. He was found lying on his right side, with his left shoulder slumped over his body. The unit members who found him said in the interviews that Musack's M4 rifle was parallel to his body with the barrel pointed toward his head and his left arm was draped over it. The report said he died of a gunshot wound to his head.
Musack had arrived at the base the day before to train members of another unit, and the area he in which was found was used as a restroom or private area to make phone calls by other soldiers at the base, the report said.
Rorex said the family is questioning a few aspects of the report, starting with the soldier interviews.
Unit members who were interviewed about the death said Musack was generally happy but kept to himself. They said Musack had no enemies in the unit and didn't express any family, financial or emotional distress. They also said he was excited to go home and talked about buying a house in Texas.
The report also said Musack was not being treated for mental illness, taking medication or receiving counseling.
On the day of his death, soldiers said nothing seemed out of the ordinary, except Musack seemed to be smoking more than usual. He was last seen stepping out to smoke about 5:15 a.m. or 5:20 a.m. The report said gunshots were heard near the base about 6 a.m.
"Why would no one go to look for him until 9:45?" Rorex said. "It doesn't make sense."
Interviews with family members and friends paint a different picture than what the soldiers said.
Rorex said her mother, Yvette Eastom of Glenpool, Okla., and aunt, DeeAnna Newlin of Tulsa, Okla., were interviewed. In their statements, in the days before his death Musack was paranoid and edgy. He said he was being "set up" and said he had seen something he shouldn't have seen involving the death of a little girl and he had to "watch his back." Musack told his family he didn't think he was coming home.
Rorex said he didn't provide many details to his family about the little girl because he thought the calls were being recorded, but she thinks the incident led to his death.
Eastom said she and her sister told her son not to say anything about the little girl because he was two weeks away from coming home.
"It will probably be a decision I'll regret the rest of my life," she said.
Eastom said she is communicating with U.S. senators in her state and will tell "anyone who will listen" that Musack's case should be re-investigated.
Grey said occasionally credible information comes up after investigations wrap up and the cases are re-opened, but not often.
Rorex said the family just wants some peace.
"We just want to figure out what really happened to James," she said


There are several articles out there concerning the large number of "suicides" occurring among our Troops, but if his family is correct, there may be another motive for his "death". We have seen other rapes, and murders that are just now coming to light, and if he was in the "know" of such a situation, it may have led to his "death"!

Please take the time to write your Congressmen and Senators and request a new look at this case. Perhaps Sgt. Musack, did commit suicide, and our hearts go out to his family, but if there is something more sinister at work, they deserve to know the truth, and we as citizens deserve to have our military act accordingly!! Get Dr. Michael Baden to do an autopsy, and put the best investigators on this case, to find the "truth", whatever that "truth" might be!!

In either case, May Sgt. James Musack, Rest In Peace, and let's help bring some peace to his family!! Thank You!!


ELECTED OFFICIALS DIRECTORY-HAPPY EASTER!

10 Most Historically Inaccurate Movies

I found a fun little article at Yahoo News, on the 10 Most Historically Inaccurate Movies~~subtitled: Films that make your high school history teacher cry!!

We all accept that movies stretch the truth in the interest of building drama. The following ten flicks, however, treat the truth like it was Silly Putty -- pulling and twisting it until it's unrecognizable. Though I do not think that they are ranked in any particular order here is Number #1:


10,000 B.C.
Director Roland Emmerich is usually a stickler for realism (see: sending a computer virus via Macintosh to aliens in Independence Day). So we hate to inform him that woolly mammoths were not, in fact, used to build pyramids. Heck, woolly mammoths weren't even found in the desert. They wouldn't need to be woolly if that were the case. And there weren't any pyramids in Egypt until 2,500 B.C or so.

Gladiator
Emperor Commodus was not the sniveling sister-obsessed creep portrayed in the movie. A violent alcoholic, sure, but not so whiny. He ruled ably for over a decade rather than ineptly for a couple months. He also didn't kill his father, Marcus Aurelius, who actually died of chickenpox. And instead of being killed in the gladatorial arena, he was murdered in his bathtub.


300
Though this paean to ancient moral codes and modern physical training is based on the real Battle of Thermopylae, the film takes many stylistic liberties. The most obvious one being Persian king Xerxes was not an 8-foot-tall Cirque du Soleil reject. The Spartan council was made up of men over the age of 60, with no one as young as Theron (played by 37-year-old Dominic West). And the warriors of Sparta went into battle wearing bronze armor, not just leather Speedos.

The Last Samurai
The Japanese in the late 19th century did hire foreign advisers to modernize their army, but they were mostly French, not American. Ken Watanabe's character was based on the real Saigo Takamori who committed ritual suicide, or "seppuku," in defeat rather than in a volley of Gatling gun fire. Also, it's doubtful that a 40-something alcoholic Civil War vet, even one with great hair, would master the chopsticks much less the samurai sword.

Apocalypto
This one movie has given entire Anthropology departments migranes. Sure the Maya did have the odd human sacrifice but not to Kulkulkan, the Sun God, and only high-ranking captives taken in battle were killed. The conquistadors arriving at the end of the film made for unlikely saviors: an estimated 90% of indigenous American population was killed by smallpox from the infected Spanish pigs.

Memoirs of a Geisha
The geisha coming-of-age, called "mizuage," was really more of a makeover, where she changed her hairstyle and clothes. It didn't involve her getting... intimate with a client. In the climatic scene where Sayuri wows Gion patrons with her dancing prowess, her routine - which involves some platforms shoes, fake snow, and a strobe light - seems more like a Studio 54 drag show that anything in pre-war Kyoto.

Braveheart
Let's forget the fact that kilts weren't worn in Scotland until about 300 years after William Wallace's day and just do some simple math. According to the movie, Wallace's blue-eyed charm at the Battle of Falkirk was so overpowering, he seduced King Edward II's wife, Isabella of France, and the result of their affair was Edward III. But according to the history books, Isabella was three years old at the time of Falkirk, and Edward III was born seven years after Wallace died.

Elizabeth:The Golden Years
In 1585, when the movie takes place, Queen Elizabeth was 52 years old - Cate Blanchett was 36 when she shot the film - and was not being courted by suitors like Ivan the Terrible (who was dead by then). And though the movie has her rallying the troops at Tilbury astride a white steed in full armor with a sword, in fact she rode side saddle, carrying a baton. She was more of a regal majorette than Joan of Arc.

The Patriot
Revolutionary War figure Francis "The Swamp Fox" Marion was the basis for Mel Gibson's character, but he wasn't the forward-thinking family man they show in the flick. He was a slave owner who didn't get married (to his cousin) until after the war was over. Historians also say that he actively persecuted and murdered native Cherokees. Plus, the climatic Battle of Guilford Court House where he vanquishes his British nemesis? In reality, the Americans lost that one.

2001: A Space Odyssey
According to this film, in year 2001 we would have had manned voyages to Jupiter, a battle of wits with a sentient computer, and a quantum leap in human evolution. Instead we got the Mir Space Station falling from the sky, Windows XP, and Freddy Got Fingered. Apparently the lesson here is that sometimes it's better when the movies get the facts all wrong.


Have Great Weekend!! Early Happy Easter Greetings and Wishes!!

A History Of Good Friday

I have not been much of a "Christian" since leaving the Catholic Church years ago, so this history is mostly from those years growing up, through being an "altar" boy, into manhood and a step away from the church as my last recollections of Good Friday, and all that it meant: So here is "one" history and definition of the Good Friday!!

Good Friday
Definition and etymology
Good Friday, called Feria VI in Parasceve in the Roman Missal, he hagia kai megale paraskeue (the Holy and Great Friday) in the Greek Liturgy, Holy Friday in Romance Languages, Charfreitag (Sorrowful Friday) in German, is the English designation of Friday in Holy Week -- that is, the Friday on which the Church keeps the anniversary of the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Parasceve, the Latin equivalent of paraskeue, preparation (i.e. the preparation that was made on the sixth day for the Sabbath; see Mark 15:42), came by metonymy to signify the day on which the preparation was made; but while the Greeks retained this use of the word as applied to every Friday, the Latins confined its application to one Friday. Irenaeus and Tertullian speak of Good Friday as the day of the Pasch; but later writers distinguish between the Pascha staurosimon (the passage to death), and the Pascha anastasimon (the passage to life, i.e. the Resurrection). At present the word Pasch is used exclusively in the latter sense. The two Paschs are the oldest feasts in the calendar.

From the earliest times the Christians kept every Friday as a feast day; and the obvious reasons for those usages explain why Easter is the Sunday par excellence, and why the Friday which marks the anniversary of Christ's death came to be called the Great or the Holy or the Good Friday. The origin of the term Good is not clear. Some say it is from "God's Friday" (Gottes Freitag); others maintain that it is from the German Gute Freitag, and not specially English. Sometimes, too, the day was called Long Friday by the Anglo-Saxons; so today in Denmark.

Office and ceremonial
There is, perhaps, no office in the whole liturgy so peculiar, so interesting, so composite, so dramatic as the office and ceremonial of Good Friday. About the vigil office, which in early times commenced at midnight in the Roman, and at 3 a.m. in the Gallican Church, it will suffice to remark that, for 400 years past, it has been anticipated by five or six hours, but retains those peculiar features of mourning which mark the evening offices of the preceding and following day, all three being known as the Tenebrae.

The morning office is in three distinct parts. The first part consists of three lessons from Sacred Scripture (two chants and a prayer being interposed) which are followed by a long series of prayers for various intentions; the second part includes the ceremony of unveiling and adoring the Cross, accompanied by the chanting of the Improperia; the third part is known as the Mass of the Presanctified, which is preceded by a procession and followed by vespers. Each of these parts will be briefly noticed here.

The Hour of None being finished, the celebrant and ministers, clothed in black vestments, come to the altar and prostrate themselves for a short time in prayer. In the meantime, the acolytes spread a single cloth on the denuded altar. No lights are used. When the celebrant and ministers ascend the altar, a lector takes his place on the epistle side, and reads a lesson from Osee 6. This is followed by a tract sung by the choir. Next comes a prayer sung by the celebrant, which is followed by another lesson from Exodus 12, chanted by the subdeacon. This is followed by another tract (Psalm 139), at the close of which the third lesson, viz. the Passion according to St. John, is sung by the deacons or recited from a bare pulpit --"dicitur passio super nudum pulpitum". When this is finished, the celebrant sings a long series of prayers for different intentions, viz. for the Church, pope, bishop of the diocese, for the different orders in the Church, for the Roman Emperor (now omitted outside the dominions of Austria), for catechumens .... The above order of lessons, chants, and prayers for Good Friday is found in our earliest Roman Ordines, dating from about A.D. 800. It represents, according to Duchesne (234), "the exact order of the ancient Synaxes without a liturgy", i.e. the order of the earliest Christian prayer meetings, at which, however, the liturgy proper, i.e. the Mass, was not celebrated. This kind of meeting for worship was derived from the Jewish Synagogue service, and consisted of lessons, chants, and prayers. In the course of time, as early perhaps as A. D. 150 (see Cabrol's "Origines Liturgiques" 137), the celebration of the Eucharist was combined with this purely euchological service to form one solemn act of Christian worship, which came to be called the Mass. It is to be noted that the Mass is still in two parts, the first consisting of lessons, chants, and prayers, and the second being the celebration of the Eucharist (including the Offertory, Canon, and Communion). While the Judica, introit, and the Gloria in Excelsis have been added to this first part of the Mass and the long series of prayers omitted from it, the oldest order of the Synaxis, or meeting without Mass, has been retained in the Good Friday service. The form of the prayers deserves to be noticed. Each prayer in three parts.

The celebrant invites the congregation to pray for a specified intention.
The deacon then says "Let us kneel" (Flectamus genua); then the people were supposed to pray for a time kneeling in silence, but at present immediately after the invitation to kneel the subdeacon invites them to stand up (Levate).
The celebrant collects, as it were, all their prayers, and voices them aloud.

The modern collect is the representative of this old solemn form of prayer. The first part is reduced to the Oremus, the second part has disappeared, and the third part remains in its entirety and has come to be called the collect. It is curious to note in these very old Good Friday prayers that the second part is omitted in the prayers for the Jews, owing, it is said, to their having insulted Christ by bending the knee in mockery before Him. These prayers were not peculiar to Good Friday in the early ages (they were said on Spy Wednesday as late as the eighth century); their retention here, it is thought, was inspired by the idea that the Church should pray for all classes of men on the day that Christ died for all. Duchesne (172) is of opinion that the Oremus now said in every Mass before the Offertory, which is not a prayer, remains to show where this old series of prayers was once said in all Masses.

Adoration of the Cross
The dramatic unveiling and adoration of the Cross, which was introduced into the Latin Liturgy in the seventh or eighth century, had its origin in the Church of Jerusalem. The "Peregrinatio Sylviae" (the real name is Etheria) contains a description of the ceremony as it took place in Jerusalem towards the close of the fourth century.

Then a chair is placed for the Bishop in Golgotha behind the Cross... a table covered with a linen cloth is placed before him; the Deacons stand around the table, and a silver-gilt casket is brought in which is the wood of the holy Cross. The casket is opened and (the wood) is taken out, and both the wood of the Cross and the Title are placed upon the table. Now, when it has been put upon the table, the Bishop, as he sits, holds the extremities of the sacred wood firmly in his hands, while the Deacons who stand around guard it. It is guarded thus because the custom is that the people, both faithful and catechumens, come one by one and, bowing down at the table, kiss the sacred wood and pass on. (Duchesne, tr. McClure, 564)

Our present ceremony is an obvious development of this, the manner of worshipping the True Cross on Good Friday observed at Jerusalem. A veiled image of the Crucifix is gradually exposed to view, while the celebrant, accompanied by his assistants, sings three times the "Ecce lignum Crucis", etc. (Behold the wood of the Cross on which hung the salvation of the world), to which the choir answers, each time, "Venite adoremus" (Come let us adore). During the singing of this response the whole assembly (except the celebrant) kneel in adoration. When the Cross is completely unveiled the celebrant carries it to the foot of the altar, and places it in a cushion prepared for it. He then takes off his shoes and approaches the Cross (genuflecting three times on the way) and kisses it. The deacon and subdeacon also divest themselves of their shoes (the deacon and subdeacon may take off their shoes, if that be the custom of the place, S.C.R., n. 2769, ad X, q. 5), and act in like manner. For an account of the peculiarly impressive ceremony known as the "Creeping to the Cross", which was once observed in England, see article CROSS. The clergy two and two follow, while one or two priests vested in surplice and black stole take crosses and present them to the faithful present to be kissed. During this ceremony the choir sings what are called Improperia, the Trisagion (in Greek as well as Latin), if time permits the hymn Crux fidelis ...(Oh, Cross, our hope...). The Improperia are a series of reproaches supposed to be addressed by Christ to the Jews. They are not found in the old Roman Ordines. Duchesne (249) detects, he thinks, a Gallican ring in them; while Martene (III, 136) has found some of them alternating with the Trisagion in ninth century Gallican documents. They appear in a Roman Ordo, for the first time, in the fourteenth century, but the retention of the Trisagion in Greek goes to show that it had found a place in the Roman Good Friday service before the Photian schism (ninth century).

A non-Catholic may say that this is all very dramatic and interesting, but allege a grave deordination in the act of adoration of the Cross on bended knees. Is not adoration due to God alone? The answer may be found in our smallest catechism. The act in question is not intended as an expression of absolute supreme worship (latreia) which, of course, is due to God alone. The essential note of the ceremony is reverence (proskynesis) which has a relative character, and which may be best explained in the words of the Pseudo-Alcuin: "Prosternimur corpore ante crucem, mente ante Dominium. Veneramur crucem, per quam redempti sumus, et illum deprecamur, qui redemit" (While we bend down in body before the cross we bend down in spirit before God. While we reverence the cross as the instrument of our redemption, we pray to Him who redeemed us). It may be urged: why sing "Behold the wood of the Cross", in unveiling the image of the Cross? The reason is obvious. The ceremony originally had immediate connexion with the True Cross, which was found by St. Helena in Jerusalem about the year A.D. 326. Churches which procured a relic of the True Cross might imitate this ceremony to the letter, but other churches had to be with an image which in this particular ceremony represents the wood of the True Cross.

As might be expected, the ceremony of the unveiling and adoration of the Cross gave rise to peculiar usages in particular Churches. After describing the adoration and kissing of the Cross in the Anglo-Saxon Church, Rock (The Church of Our Fathers, IV, 103) goes on to say: "Though not insisted on for general observance, there was a rubric that allowed a rite, at this part of the office, to be followed, which may be called The Burial of the Rood. At the hind part of the altar ... there was made a kind of sepulchre, hung all about with a curtain. Inside this recess...the cross, after the ceremony of kissing it had been done, was carried by its two deacons, who had, however, first wrapped it up in a linen cloth or winding-sheet. As they bore their burden along, they sang certain anthems till they reached this spot, and there they left the cross; and it lay thus entombed till Easter morn, watched all that while by two, three, or more monks, who chanted psalms through day and night. When the Burial was completed the deacon and subdeacon came from the sacristy with the reserved host. Then followed The Mass of the Pre-sanctified. A somewhat similar ceremony (called the Apokathelosis) is still observed in the Greek Church. An image of Christ, laid on a bier, is carried through the streets with a kind of funeral pomp, and is offered to those present to be worshipped and kissed.

Mass of the Presanctified
To return to the Roman Rite, when the ceremony of adoring and kissing the Cross is concluded, the Cross is placed aloft on the altar between lighted candles, a procession is formed which proceeds to the chapel of repose, where the second sacred host consecrated in yesterday's Mass has since lain entombed in a gorgeously decorated urn and surrounded by lights and flowers. This urn represents the sepulchre of Christ (decree of S.C.R., n. 3933, ad I). The Most Holy Sacrament is now carried back to the altar in solemn procession, during which is sung the hymn "Vexilla Regis prodeunt" (The standards of the King advance). Arrived in the sanctuary the clergy go to their places retaining lighted candles, while the celebrant and his ministers ascend the altar and celebrate what is called the Mass of the Presanctified. This is not a Mass in the strict sense of the word, as there is no consecration of the sacred species. The host which was consecrated in yesterday's Mass (hence the word presanctified) is placed on the altar, incensed, elevated ("that it may be seen by the people"), and consumed by the celebrant. It is substantially the Communion part of the Mass, beginning with the "Pater noster" which marks the end of the Canon. From the very earliest times it was the custom not to celebrate the Mass proper on Good Friday. Speaking about this ceremony Duchesne (249) says,

It is merely the Communion separated from the liturgical celebration of the Eucharist properly so called. The details of the ceremony are not found earlier than in books of the eighth or ninth century, but the service must belong to a much earlier period. At the time when synaxes without liturgy were frequent, the 'Mass of the Presanctified' must have been frequent also. In the Greek Church it was celebrated every day in Lent except on Saturdays and Sundays, but in the Latin Church it was confined to Good Friday.

At present [1909] the celebrant alone communicates, but it appears from the old Roman Ordines that formerly all present communicated (Martene, III, 367). The omission of the Mass proper marks in the mind of the Church the deep sorrow with which she keeps the anniversary of the Sacrifice of Calvary. Good Friday is a feast of grief. A black fast, black vestments, a denuded altar, the slow and solemn chanting of the sufferings of Christ, prayers for all those for whom He died, the unveiling and reverencing of the Crucifix, these take the place of the usual festal liturgy; while the lights in the chapel of repose and the Mass of the Presanctified is followed by the recital of vespers, and the removal of the linen cloth from the altar ("Vespers are recited without chant and the altar is denuded").

Other ceremonies
The rubrics of the Roman Missal prescribe no further ceremonial for this day, but there are laudable customs in different churches which are allowed. For example, the custom (where it exists) of carrying in procession a statue of Our Lady of Sorrows is expressly permitted by decrees of the S. Con. of Rites (n. 2375, and n. 2682); also the custom (where it exists) of exposing a relic of the Holy Cross on the high altar (n. 2887), and the custom of carrying such a relic in procession within the walls of the church, not, however, during the usual ceremonies (n. 3466), are expressly permitted. Rock (op. cit. 279, 280) notes, with interesting detail, a custom followed at one time in England of submitting voluntarily to the rod of penance on Good Friday.

Have A Very Good~~Good Friday!!!

Did Fallen Riverside Soldier Commit Suicide With Good Friday Reminder!

As we enter Good Friday, I respectfully request anyone reading this to contact your representatives, and ask them to "Please look into this story and find out what happened for the family"!! Thanks~~

I was directed to a story which is running in the Iowa City Press-Citzen today, March 18th, 2008, and written by Kathryn Fiegen, which relates the story of a deceased soldier from Riverside, Iowa, and his "supposed" suicide!

The family of a fallen Riverside soldier said they still have unanswered questions after receiving the results recently of an investigation into his death that concluded he killed himself in Iraq.

Initial reports said U.S. Army Sgt. James Musack, 23, of Riverside, was killed in a non-combat related incident Nov. 21, 2006, in Samarra, Iraq. He was serving his second tour of duty in Iraq with the 4th Infantry Division out of Fort Hood, Texas. The U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command investigated the death and concluded in December 2007 that it was a suicide.
However, Musack's sister, Morgan Rorex, 20, of Coralville, said her family doesn't believe Musack killed himself just days before he was supposed to come home from Iraq.
"We didn't think that's what happened," she said. "There's too many inconsistencies."
Musack's family received the results of the investigation in the mail two weeks ago. The report is more than 100 pages long and includes interviews with unit members, the family and friends who last spoke to Musack, the results of forensic tests and diagrams of where his body was found. Many of the details, including the names of who was interviewed, were redacted.
Christopher Grey, Chief of Public Affairs for the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command, said Musack's death was "thoroughly investigated."
"We stand by the findings of this investigation," he said. "My heart goes out to the family, of course, but at this point, we stand by our investigation."
According to the report, Musack was found 67 meters from the southeast corner of Patrol Base South in the Al-Taji area of Iraq about 9:45 a.m. Nov. 21. He was found lying on his right side, with his left shoulder slumped over his body. The unit members who found him said in the interviews that Musack's M4 rifle was parallel to his body with the barrel pointed toward his head and his left arm was draped over it. The report said he died of a gunshot wound to his head.
Musack had arrived at the base the day before to train members of another unit, and the area he in which was found was used as a restroom or private area to make phone calls by other soldiers at the base, the report said.
Rorex said the family is questioning a few aspects of the report, starting with the soldier interviews.
Unit members who were interviewed about the death said Musack was generally happy but kept to himself. They said Musack had no enemies in the unit and didn't express any family, financial or emotional distress. They also said he was excited to go home and talked about buying a house in Texas.
The report also said Musack was not being treated for mental illness, taking medication or receiving counseling.
On the day of his death, soldiers said nothing seemed out of the ordinary, except Musack seemed to be smoking more than usual. He was last seen stepping out to smoke about 5:15 a.m. or 5:20 a.m. The report said gunshots were heard near the base about 6 a.m.
"Why would no one go to look for him until 9:45?" Rorex said. "It doesn't make sense."
Interviews with family members and friends paint a different picture than what the soldiers said.
Rorex said her mother, Yvette Eastom of Glenpool, Okla., and aunt, DeeAnna Newlin of Tulsa, Okla., were interviewed. In their statements, in the days before his death Musack was paranoid and edgy. He said he was being "set up" and said he had seen something he shouldn't have seen involving the death of a little girl and he had to "watch his back." Musack told his family he didn't think he was coming home.
Rorex said he didn't provide many details to his family about the little girl because he thought the calls were being recorded, but she thinks the incident led to his death.
Eastom said she and her sister told her son not to say anything about the little girl because he was two weeks away from coming home.
"It will probably be a decision I'll regret the rest of my life," she said.
Eastom said she is communicating with U.S. senators in her state and will tell "anyone who will listen" that Musack's case should be re-investigated.
Grey said occasionally credible information comes up after investigations wrap up and the cases are re-opened, but not often.
Rorex said the family just wants some peace.
"We just want to figure out what really happened to James," she said


There are several articles out there concerning the large number of "suicides" occurring among our Troops, but if his family is correct, there may be another motive for his "death". We have seen other rapes, and murders that are just now coming to light, and if he was in the "know" of such a situation, it may have led to his "death"!

Please take the time to write your Congressmen and Senators and request a new look at this case. Perhaps Sgt. Musack, did commit suicide, and our hearts go out to his family, but if there is something more sinister at work, they deserve to know the truth, and we as citizens deserve to have our military act accordingly!! Get Dr. Michael Baden to do an autopsy, and put the best investigators on this case, to find the "truth", whatever that "truth" might be!!

In either case, May Sgt. James Musack, Rest In Peace, and let's help bring some peace to his family!! Thank You!!


ELECTED OFFICIALS DIRECTORY